Older persons in Masindi have decried the segregation they say they undergo while seeking different services.

Zzebi Baitwaki, the female counsellor for older persons in Masindi district council, says persons of advanced age find it difficult in accessing services, especially in health centres, banks, and other institutions.

Byaruhanga

"We are normally seen as people who don't matter. Sometimes, young health workers in health facilities don't want to touch our bodies because we have wrinkles. Sometimes, we are made to stand for so long in queues. Most elderly people suffer from several ailments, including backache, diabetes and pressure. Why do you make such a person stand for long?" she said.

She called upon training institutions and organisations employing different people to train young people on how to handle elderly persons whenever they approach them.

Baitwaki also said as a leader of older persons, she gets a lot of complaints from the people she represents, adding that she has tried her level best to agitate for special care to always be given to such category of people in vain.

Allegations of men beating wives over sex

She added that elderly women are also suffering from domestic violence at home noting that some men beat their spouses when they deny them conjugal rights.

Different leaders during the stakeholder meeting on SGBV.

"Some men end up beating their partners because they're unable to offer them conjugal rights. They even begin to suspect us to be having other spouses which is not the case. For us women, when we grow there are some things [duties] we cannot fulfil. Our husbands should always understand us," she noted.

Baitwaki was speaking during the stakeholders' meeting on sexual gender-based violence (SGBV) which was organised by the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) at the country inn on Tuesday (June 28).

James Mugisa, an older person from Masindi town, said some of them decide to forego some services because they have no energy to compete with the able-bodied people.

"My request to the Government is to compel different institutions in the country to always give special attention to the elderly," he said.

Joab Businge, a member of Parliament for Masindi municipality concurred with Baitwaki noting that what she had said was a real experience of what the elderly people are going through in the country.

Support needed

"Most times, the elderly persons have been mistaken to be indisciplined and immoral, which is not true because when a person is growing, he or she goes through that process. What we need to do is support elderly people at all levels instead of segregating them. As a government we need to put favourable policies to enable them easily access services," he said.

Report

Presenting a report of what they had discovered in different health centres in the district, Elly Kirya from FOWODE indicated that they discovered that there's a lot of impoliteness by health workers in most of the health centres.

"Out of our findings, we learnt that health workers are using harsh language while handling the people who are going for different services. As leaders, you need to do something to address this matter," he said.

Kirya further noted that they found out that some LC1 chairpersons are attempting to settle defilement cases.

"They engage in settling cases. When negotiations fail that's when they seek Police intervention and yet it's too late," he said.

He also said that some victims of rape when they report cases, they're required to pay for transport and medical examinations which they can't raise.

"When the victim fails to raise the money, the case dies there hence escalating defilement cases," he noted.

DPC speaks out

Masindi district Police commander Shifa Kiribwa confirmed that there are LC1 chairpersons involving themselves in solving cases which are capital in nature, noting that they're currently looking for an LC1 chairperson who handled a defilement case.

"This chairperson received sh240,000 ate sh200,000 and gave the victim sh40,000," she said.

She encouraged the people of Masindi to always make use of the Police posts in their localities to report different cases since the patrol vehicle cannot be everywhere in the district.

Commenting on the issue of rudeness by the health workers, Cosmas Byaruhanga, the Masindi district LCV chairperson said that he has been tolerant enough with the health workers who are rude to patients, noting that starting with July punitive actions are going to be taken against them.

Statistics

Masindi probation officer Annet Karamangi said her office is always overwhelmed by GBV cases.

She indicated that from March to June this year 42 GBV cases were reported, 102 underage cases of children were reported and referred to police and 27 cases of children who had dropped out of school were reported. 

She, however, said they have gone back to school.

Maureen Kyomuhendo, the field officer of FOWODE, Masindi, said they are championing women's rights under the advancing women's engagement: strengthening opportunities to mobilise equality (AWESOME) a five-year program whose overall strategic objective is to ensure women's movements in Uganda are strengthened, less fragmented and more representative of diverse groups of women.

"The purpose of this meeting is to deliberate on SGBV issues raised by citizens and scrutinize the district budget for the financial year 2022/ 2023 to ascertain the inclusion of commitments by leaders on SGBV," she said.